Standing up on my tippy toes, I press my lips to his, talking against them. “He doesn’t deserve a son like you. You’re so far from being an asshole. You’re the best person I know. So let’s just go and prove to him that you’re the bigger person. Let’s not worry. Okay? I’m here for you.”
He nods his head and breathes against my lips. “And I love you for that.”
“Fuck,” he whispers afterwards and turns away in a hurry, grabbing my hand to walk me down to his bike. “Let’s go.”
I try to focus on jumping on the back of his motorcycle and wrapping my arms around him, but all my mind is on is the fact that the word love just came from his lips. Even if it wasn’t in the I love you way.
It has my heart racing and my whole body feeling weak.
This man has much more of me than I thought. He has my fucking heart. All of it and I hope like hell that he doesn’t rip it from my chest.
When we pull up at his parents’ house, his whole body stiffens as he stares at the empty driveway.
“Everything alright?” I ask in his ear. “Is anyone here?”
He turns off the engine, but doesn’t make a move to get off his bike. “Yeah, my mother’s here. My father isn’t.”
I smile and rub his shoulders. “That’s a good thing then, right? Maybe he’ll miss dinner and you won’t have to-”
“It’s not a good thing,” he growls, while helping me off the back of his bike. “Trust me. It’s far from good.”
Grabbing my hand, he gives me a quick kiss on the lips, before walking me to the house and pushing the door open.
“We’re here, mom.”
A beautiful woman about my height comes running from the kitchen, excitedly pulling her blonde hair from her face and pinning it back. “Oh. My.”
She stops in front of me and looks me over, before pulling my hand from Styx’s and enclosing it in hers. “Meadow is beautiful.” I laugh nervously as she spins me around and then hugs me. “You’re perfect for my son. Just think of the beautiful babies ya’ll would have.”
“Seriously?” Styx says, sounding embarrassed. “Let’s not talk about kids when she’s barely been mine for a month. Shit, mom.”
“So she is yours?” she questions, looking as if she got the information a lot easier than she expected. Grinning, she throws her arms around me and whispers, “You’re the first woman he’s ever called his. You’re special to him and that makes you very special to me.”
“Alright. Alright. Try not to scare Meadow away before she even makes it to the kitchen table to fucking eat. Now where’s Frank?”
His mom smiles even bigger and then kisses him on the forehead. “Love you, baby,” she says, ignoring his question. “Now let’s go eat.”
Styx grabs my hand as his mom rushes back into the kitchen as if to avoid any further talk of his father. “My mother’s a little excited about tonight. So ignore some of the things she says. She’s not used to me bringing women around.”
I smile and squeeze his hand, excited to get to experience this. “I love her. She’s so cute. I love that she’s excited so let’s try to forget about your father and enjoy this time with her. I want her to be happy. I want to see you both smiling tonight.”
I give him a quick kiss and then head to the kitchen to help his mother.
Styx follows shortly behind, going straight to the dishes to help set the table.
“Meadow, sweetie.” His mother turns to look at me, while shoving a piece of hamburger meat in her mouth. “Would you mind grabbing the cheese from the bottom drawer in the fridge? I forgot to get it out. Everything is set after that!”
“No problem,” I say, returning her smile. “Thanks for having me for dinner. It smells delicious in here.”
She laughs. “I learned from my son. I was a lousy cook when he was a kid and none of my food had any flavor.”
I catch Styx laughing as he finishes setting up the table. “That’s true. I used to go weeks skipping dinner just so I wouldn’t have to eat her cooking.”
“Hey!” His mother throws a taco shell at him. “That’s a lie. You make it sound as if I fed you dog food as a kid.” She winks. “It was cat food.”
I can’t help but to laugh as we all sit down and start making our tacos.
I can definitely see where Styx gets his personality from.
After dinner, we spend the next hour at the table eating snacks and playing cards, listening to stories about when Styx was a teen.
A smile hasn’t left our faces since we sat down and I have to admit that this is the best family dinner I’ve had since I was a kid.